Among the vast sea of today's deathcore bands, the sextet out of Tennessee expanded their musical array and delivered one of their best albums to date.

Spoiler alert: If you believe that their 2008 release This Is Exile is the best thing since sliced bread, stop reading, you probably wont like their new stuff.

With that said, Whitechapel are at it again, and while maybe a little presumptuous to self-title their fourth studio album, I believe Whitechapel speaks for itself.

So where to start? I couldn't have said it any better myself, so I am opening with a very fitting quote by one of our own Metal Storm forum members: "Not sure if my music tastes are deteriorating or Whitechapel are getting better. Either way, I like it."

Whitechapel still has some of the hectic and furious deathcore elements ala This Is Exile but it also exploits the groovier parts off A New Era Of Corruption in greater depth. An easy task with three guitarists, and they actually do use them to the fullest. Be it with a triple rhythm assault on your ears, a double dose of heavy chugging to offset some melodic riff, or the awesome catchy solos nicely placed throughout the entire album.

Yes, there are still the signature breakdowns and blast beats but with the incorporation of more subtle sounds the whole album appears to flow together, rather then just being a brutal assault on the senses.

The band always had one or two instrumental songs in their repertoire so it's no surprise that they stayed with this formula for Whitechapel as well. "Section 8" off their 2011 EP Recorrupted made its way onto the new album and with said song and "Faces" the brutality of the band is very much alive. But "Possibilities Of An Impossible Existence" is the prime example of how the band moved to the more "easy listening" side of deathcore. Not a bad thing in my book, and I believe Whitechapel will appeal to a much broader range of fans this way.

Phil Bozeman dug deep into his inner self with the lyrical content of the album, with each song talking about a different topic rather then a common scheme. I thought his vocals were outstanding on A New Era Of Corruption and am more than pleased with his performance this time around. He definitely showcases his vocal range and not just his abilities of screaming and gurgling.

Paying homage to their prior three albums at the start of "Make It Bleed", Phil might indicate that it was time to change: "We've been somatically defiled, exiled, and now this new era has come to an end." But while the musical approach of the new album was a gutsy move and shows their commitment to evolve as songwriters and as a band in general, it might also alienate them from the core, and very unforgiving, scene fans.

I was in love with this album for a few days, mainly do to the massive improvement over their previous work, but after a week or two, it's not particularly outstanding. Still very solid, but as far as death metalish stuff in 2012, it can't compare to Cattle Decap, Cannibal Corpse, and all those other albums released this year. And the people complaining about how this album has less breakdowns should just pick up a guitar, downtune it, and chug the bottom two strings to their hearts content.

Hmm, Might check this album out. The only other Deathcore album I've enjoyed is the last BoO's album - despite being more proggy than Whitechapel, maybe I'll come to like a lot more albums in this genre ^^.

Paying homage to their prior three albums at the start of "Make It Bleed", Phil might indicate that it was time to change: "We've been somatically defiled, exiled, and now this new era has come to an end."

That's kinda funny, and kool. Now I'm looking even more forward to checking this out in further detail...

I still haven't listened to this in full, but based on the try-hard deathcore fans lamenting the "change in direction", I'm honestly looking forward to see what they've come up with this time around.

Kudos on breaking your album review virginity.

Hahaha ... yes my review cherry has been popped

Deathcore sooooo not my first choice of music but somehow I always liked Whitechapel. Thought their last album was good, but I really dig the new one. Might be also since they actually DID go "softer".

This album is the reason that Whitechapel found there place in my library.

Their last efforts were trash and I nearly overlooked this album, but after seeing so much praise from it - praise from communities which would have torn them apart normally, I decided I should check it out. They're definitely made huge strides and this album goes to show it. It's not absolutely mind blowing, but it's a solid album from a band which I'm sure the majority of us never expected to be capable of putting out a good album.

I hope they continue like this and keep improving because I never have a problem with more music to enjoy.

Whitechapel man, one of those select few that has always had talent and my hope for their improvement. Good to know and hear that they've matured and that my musical instincts still have yet to let me down:)

I've been a fan of Whitechapel since This is Exile, and I can say with all honesty that I hope they move to straight up Death Metal. I think they could all pull it off. Sure, some of the scene kids would stop liking the band, but who cares.